Mexico #2 - Making New Friends in Villahermosa
by Doug Nielson, Outreach Foundation trustee
Today was a day of making new friends at the Seminario Teológico Presbiteriano del Sureste (Sureste Seminary), a long-time partner of The Outreach Foundation. The seminary is located on a lush tropical campus outside of Villhermosa, the capital of the southern Mexican state of Tabasco.
We were surprised and delighted to have virtually the entire faculty, staff, and student body of the seminary on campus to meet with us. (This was the first time they have gathered in person since the start of COVID.). We were introduced to a majority of the 31 Bachelor of Theology students for which Outreach Foundation partners provide partial scholarships.
We also were able to inspect the men’s dormitory building that was damaged by a fire in late 2018. Through the generous donations of Outreach Foundation partners, Sureste has been able to commence the initial repair work which includes cleaning the smoke-damaged rooms and re-wiring the electrical system. With incremental funding, they will be able to continue with repairs, including installing a new HVAC system, replacing ceiling and floor tiles, as well as repainting all 15 rooms in this two-story building.
Another highlight of our day at Sureste was meeting two amazing professors. One was Pastor William, a young man in his early 20s who recently graduated from Sureste. William has a passion and talent for Greek and is now teaching it with alacrity to the students at Sureste (using a variety of software tools to make his subject come alive online. In his “free time” William is also a full-time pastor in Villahermosa. We enjoyed spending time with Professor Juan Marcos León, too. Juan Marcos teaches four different courses of Hebrew at the seminary. The unique thing about Juan Marcos is that he taught himself Hebrew! He subsequently advanced his studies in Israel and Peru and hopes to complete advanced degree work in the subject in the future.
Our day at Sureste was full and encouraging. The servant-leader hearts of those at Sureste really shined through all those that we met. We are excited to see how the Lord will use the students at Sureste to advance his work in southern Mexico and beyond.